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Down at the Animal Ranch on Facebook
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In the long list of social games available on Facebook there are many games that go overlooked. Some of them are good, and deserve attention, and some of them are well... not so good. Animal Ranch fits into the latter category. It is a browser based application with massively multi-player online capabilities, but players have been dropping off the game's servers like leaves from a deciduous tree in Autumn.
If you have ever dreamed of vacationing on a Guest Ranch (aka Dude Ranch), and you dream of wide open spaces among the cows and horses then this role playing game cannot even come close to offering you a view into that world with its over-simplified gaming platform, and barely mediocre graphics.
The games is very simple to play. You are given a small parcel of land with little circular plots dotting the landscape. You place a baby animal or egg, that you have either purchased or recieved as a gift, on the circle, you feed it, you give it vitamins, and you wait for it to "mature". You then collect whatever product that the animal produces, sell those items, and then you start all over again. There are a few caveats as players have to battle skunks, grime, fleas, and thieving neighbors. None of these tasks are particularly difficult or entertaining.
Some drawbacks with Animal Ranch are found in how arduously a player progresses through the levels, and how slowly they earn the coins necessary to buy items for their ranch. Credits can be purchased, to assist in the game, but unlike other role playing games on Facebook, there is no other way to earn those credits.
Another drawback, with the game, is the fact that it encourages Spamming with prompts offered after almost every task that a player performs -- none of which can be considered to be of much consequence. These prompts, and the giving of gifts, are the game's main social contact. There are no human avatars, and you cannot see the other players when they visit your ranch to pilfer goods from your stock. .
Animal Ranch is simple enough for the smallest child, and although the name sounds fairly benign in comparison to titles like Mafia Wars, and Mobsters, the fact that players are encouraged to steal goods from neighboring farms sends a somewhat negative message. The only real fun involved in this game is the fact that you get to throw dirt and fleas, on your neighbor's baby animals, after you have finished pillaging their mature animals for products.
As with all social games players may want to consider a gaming ID, and look into adding neighbors to their Ranch. Neighbors offer more gifts, and an opportunity to throw the fleas and dirt. The reality is that it will be hard to find anyone willing to stick with this game, and keep their ranches stocked with items to boost.
Players that are intent on trying out Animal Ranch will find very little support online, and will probably end up turning to the one and only fan club through Facebook which has its own user forum. Searching Youtube, or your favorite search engine, will yield very little in the way of strategy guides or hints. When all else fails gamers can always check out WikiAnswers for specific answers in relationship to the game. Links on Google routinely led to the same short article on several different blogs, and gamer sites, and an extensive search led to the RAWR! site, where players can launch to the application or participate in discussion boards for several of the games available on Facebook.
A better name for the application might be Dust Bowl, as it somewhat resembles the American midwest in the 1930s. If you want to play on the farm there are several better applications available through Facebook, including Farm Town and Farmville. All you have to do is keep trying until you find the one that is right for you, and simply delete the rest.
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